They Tried to Warn Her
by Nicolette134
Summary: or, Toni's Tears


"Who Knew"

 _You took my hand_  
 _You showed me how_  
 _You promised me you'd be around_  
 _Uh huh_  
 _That's right_  
 _I took your words_  
 _And I believed_  
 _In everything_  
 _You said to me_  
 _Yeah huh_  
 _That's right_

"Toni, this is a bad idea," mumbled Jughead, leaning against the row of lockers as if it took too much out of him to even stand, "You said so yourself."

"I said no such thing," the pink-haired pixie frowned up at her taller friend, "What're you talking about?"

"Remember what you told me when I became a Serpent?" he reminded her gently, "About how the Serpents would be there for me long after the Northsiders, Betty included, left me?"

"Vaguely," she acknowledged, "But that was different."

"How is that possibly any different?" Jughead blew a puff of steam up at the lock of hair that protruded out from under his beanie, "If anything, it's even more true in this situation than it was in my own."

"It's different," Toni paused, "Because you let me talk you out of dating Betty. If you felt the way I do now, you never would've let me."

Jughead closed his eyes and reflected. He _did_ love Betty, he was sure of it, but he'd secretly felt all along that what Toni said was true, she'd just been the first to verbalize it for him. Betty would leave him one day, there was no use skirting the issue, but that didn't mean it hadn't hurt to let her go. It certainly didn't mean he was wrong now, either.

"Toni," he paused, unsure of how to continue, "She's a bad person."

"Jones," she smirked, "That's what everyone says about us, too. Don't you see? We're perfectly, imperfect."

"I don't want you to get hurt," he said, almost holding his breath as he awaited her reaction.

"I'm a big girl, Juggy," she patted his arm, that cocky, self-assuredness ringing eternal in the smallest of the Serpents as much as it did Tall Boy or Sweet Pea, "I can take care of myself."

And with that she walked away, leaving Jughead alone with his thoughts- _I sure hope so._

 _If someone said three years from now_  
 _You'd be long gone_  
 _I'd stand up and punch them out_  
 _Cause they're all wrong_  
 _I know better_  
 _Cause you said forever_  
 _And ever_  
 _Who knew_

"Sweet Pea, what are you doing?" Toni shrieked, pounding the back of the boy as he kidnapped her from her bed and dragged her out of her uncle's.

"It's for your own good, Topaz," he grunted, sitting her on the front of his bike so he could hold onto her and steer at the same time. Toni thought it was a tad unnecessary- she was pissed, yes, but certainly not crazy enough to jump off a moving motorcycle.

"I'm not a child, you know," she protested, her arms-crossed over her chest and pout, notwithstanding.

"I know," the boy answered, wrapping one arm around her thin waist to tug her closer to him, holding her in place with his legs, "I just don't want you escaping at a red light."

The thought hadn't occurred to the girl, having been in a dead sleep just moments ago, but he had a point there.

"I didn't realize you stopped for red lights," Toni retorted, clicking her tongue. Sweet Pea was a notoriously bad driver, and paid little mind to the rules of the road.

"Precious cargo," he tapped the top of her head with his chin. Toni was reminded again of how obnoxiously tall everyone was in comparison to her, even Cheryl could see clear over her head when she rode behind her, and Sweet Pea was taller than most.

"Where are we even going?" she asked, sullenly accepting her fate.

"Pops'," the boy replied, only driving faster.

 _Remember when we were such fools_  
 _And so convinced and just too cool_  
 _Oh no_  
 _No no_  
 _I wish I could touch you again_  
 _I wish I could still call you friend_  
 _I'd give anything_

"Are you cheating on me?" she asked quietly, hating how evident the pain was in her voice.

"What are you talking about, She-Snake?" the redhead rolled her eyes, but the nickname didn't seem cute to Toni anymore. In fact, it made her blood boil.

"I said," she stepped forward threateningly, "Are you cheating on me?"

"I don't know why you'd ask," Cheryl retorted, "It's not like there are any other rug-munchers around these parts, such as ourselves."

"With a boy," Toni specified further, "With Chuck."

"Oh, Chuck," the redhead drew out the name, a giggle evident on her tongue, "Not in the least. But if you were spying on me, you should've come in and said hi. Had a burger, or two."

"I wasn't spying," Toni bit back, unwilling to let Cheryl gaslight her into making her seem like the unstable one, "But Sweet Pea and Fangs saw you at Pops' and they wanted to me to know, so Sweet Pea basically kidnapped me from my bed to show me you guys and-"

"Listen, babes," Cheryl cut you off, "I don't want to hear about the Trailer Park Fun you and Sweaty get into. If you're going to be weird about it, we should just break up now."

 _When someone said count your blessings now_  
 _'fore they're long gone_  
 _I guess I just didn't know how_  
 _I was all wrong_  
 _They knew better_  
 _Still you said forever_  
 _And ever_  
 _Who knew_

"What?" Toni breathed out.

"We. Should. Break. Up," Cheryl said slowly, as if speaking to a child, "Face it, Pink, you and I both knew this little experiment had an expiration date. I got Mommy's attention for slumming it with a chick, and you got a story to tell your little trailer grandbabies about the time you ate dinner at a Real House, y'know, one that won't roll away. We both get what we wanted."

"That's- that's not what I wanted," comes the response, confused at this sudden change in events. A new beau you could handle, but this? This cold, selfish ending to what had been, in Toni's opinion (and she'd thought it'd been shared), an incredible time?

"Yeah, well that's what I wanted," snapped the redhead, although the tears threatening to spill from behind her eyes indicated otherwise, "So get lost, Gutter Snake."

"Cheryl, Jesus," Betty walked by at that precise moment, swooping in with her blonde pony tail and Peter Pan collar, "What's the matter with you?"

"Cupcake, here, can't take a hint," Cheryl snarled, the moment of vulnerability had passed and her face was again a hard mask of indifference, "We're not all like you Betty, so easily forgotten and over with- clearly she'll be inconsolable at the loss of me."

Betty's face pinched at the mention of how quickly Jughead had appeared to move on with another girl, a Southsider named Nina with blue hair and ice in her veins, the complete opposite of Betty. Even though Toni knew it was mostly all an act for the other Serpents, she didn't have it in her to console Betty Cooper of all people. She turned without another word to either of the girls and walked out of the school.

 _Yeah yeah_  
 _I'll keep you locked in my head_  
 _Until we meet again_  
 _Until we_  
 _Until we meet again_  
 _And I won't forget you my friend_  
 _What happened_

"I tried to warn you," Jughead patted Toni's bubble-gum curls in an awkward attempt to comfort her, "She's not a good person, Toni."

"Listen, Topaz," Sweet Pea said, "The chick's a bitch, a Northside bitch at that. You're better off without her."

"I'm sorry, Tone," was all Fangs had to offer, his quiet words a whisper, close in her ear as she leaned further into his shoulder, shielding herself from the crowd at the Whyte Wyrm. She didn't have a shift now, they'd come to get skunked, in an effort to make her feel better, no doubt, but it was only serving to make her feel worse. The more she drank the more the image of Cheryl cherry-stained lips came to mind, repeating again and again, "Gutter Snake". She'd never been ashamed of who she was before- hell, the Serpents were the only thing keeping her alive half the time- but it had never held her back from getting something she wanted either.

And she'd wanted Cheryl so bad, had her too, if you believe the hype. She knew it was true the moment she'd seen the tears in her eyes. Tears of her own threatened to spill out, but she blinked them back. She wouldn't cry for Cheryl, not here at least. Maybe in the privacy- or near privacy, as it is- of her uncle's, maybe not. Maybe she wouldn't cry for Cheryl for forty-years, until it all became too much, like Alice Cooper and FP's torrid romance. Whatever the case may be, she knew it in her heart. If only for a minute, she'd had the one and only Cheryl Blossom.

 _If someone said three years from now_  
 _You'd be long gone_  
 _I'd stand up and punch them out_  
 _Cause they're all wrong and_  
 _That last kiss_  
 _I'll cherish_  
 _Until we meet again_  
 _And time makes_  
 _It harder_  
 _I wish I could remember_  
 _But I keep_  
 _Your memory_  
 _You visit me in my sleep_

 _My darling_

 _Who knew_


End file.
